INTRODUCTION TO

LINGUISTICS
WHAT IS LANGUAGE?
DEFINITION

• IT IS A COMMUNICATION OF THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS

THROUGH A SYSTEM OF ARBITRARY SIGNALS, SUCH AS
VOICE SOUNDS, GESTURES, OR WRITTEN SYMBOLS.
MORE DEFINITIONS

LET’S HAVE A LOOK WHAT THE EXPERTS HAVE TO SAY..

1. SAPIR (1921) GAVE A MORE PLAUSIBLE DEFINITION ABOUT
HUMAN LANGUAGE BY STATING THAT:
• LANGUAGE IS A PURELY HUMAN AND NON-INSTINCTIVE
METHOD OF COMMUNICATING IDEAS, EMOTIONS, AND
DESIRES BY MEANS OF A SYSTEM OF VOLUNTARILY
PRODUCED SYMBOLS.
MORE DEFINITIONS

2. DAVID CRYSTAL (1989):

THE DISCUSSION MAY BE SUMMARIZED BY REFERRING TO LANGUAGE AS

HUMAN VOCAL NOISE (OR GRAPHIC REPRESENTATION OF THIS NOISE IN
WRITING) USED SYSTEMATICALLY AND CONVENTIONALLY BY A COMMUNITY
FOR PURPOSES OF COMMUNICATION.
MORE DEFINITIONS

R.H HOBBINS(1990):

LANGUAGE IS A FORM OF COMMUNICATION BY MEANS OF A SYSTEM OF

SYMBOLS PRINCIPALLY TRANSMITTED BY VOCAL SOUNDS.
HUMAN VS ANIMAL LANGUAGE

• INFINITE VS FINITE REPERTOIRE OF COMMUNICATION

(I.E UNLIMITED FOR HUMANS)

• HUMAN LANGUAGE HAS WHAT WE CALL GRAMMAR, IT ALLOWS

MORE CREATION OF SENTENCE PATTERNS
CHARACTERISTICS OF HUMAN LANGUAGE

• CHARLES F. HOCKETT(1958) ENUMERATES A NUMBER OF FEATURES

WHICH , HE ARGUES, CONSTITUTE HUMAN LANGUAGE:
• INTERCHANGEABILITY: TRANSMITTING AND RECEIVING
INFORMATION
• PRODUCTIVITY: THE ABILITY TO VARY A MESSAGE TO REFLECT
DIFFERENCES IN CIRCUMSTANCES CONCERNED.
• CULTURAL TRANSMISSION: THE ABILITY TO LEARN FROM OTHERS.
WHAT IS LINGUISTICS?

• LINGUISTICS IS THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF LANGUAGE.

• THERE ARE MANY BRANCHES IN LINGUISTICS, FOR EXAMPLE:

• APPLIED LINGUISTICS
• HISTORICAL LINGUISTICS
• PSYCHOLINGUISTICS
• COMPUTATIONAL LINGUISTICS
• SOCIOLINGUISTICS
WHAT DO WE STUDY IN LINGUISTICS?

• WE WILL STUDY THE FOLLOWING AREAS IN LINGUISTICS:

1. PHONETICS IS THE STUDY OF SOUND PRODUCTION (PHYSICAL PRODUCTION, THAT

IS HOW THE SOUNDS ARE PRODUCED IN THE MOUTH
2. PHONOLOGY: THE STUDY OF SOUND PATTERNS
3. MORPHOLOGY: THE STUDY OF WORD STRUCTURE
4. SYNTAX: THE STUDY OF SENTENCE PATTERNS.